5 Reasons Why I Am An Agvocate

 

There are many reasons to be an agvocate, but today I am going to tell you five of my reasons.

An agvocate is an individual who actively promotes agriculture in respectful and meaningful ways.

1. I GET TO EDUCATE OTHERS

Every year, there are fewer and fewer farmers in Canada, making farmers a minority group that represents less than 3% of all Canadians. This means that a majority of Canadians have never visited a farm or, if they have visited a farm, they most likely lack understanding about the important role that agriculture plays in all of our lives, and so it's up to us to educate them.  

2. IT ONLY TAKES ONE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

 It only takes one person to initiate change. In my blog post, #farm365, I talked about how a dairy farmer from southwestern Ontario was able to start the #farm365 hashtag that has now become global.

 

3.  WORKING TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE 

Andrew Campbell might have started the #farm365 hashtag, but it takes various types of farmers to show what happens on the many different types of farms.

4. I GET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT WHAT I DO

Being an agvocate gives me the chance to tell others about what it's like to work on a farm.

5. I GET TO MEET NEW PEOPLE 

By being an agvocate on social media, I have been able to meet many farmers from around the world, as well as advocate for agriculture on a global scale.

#farm365

Thank you to Chrissie Laymon for the use of her photo. You can follow Chrissie on Twitter @the_farm_life.

   Have you ever wondered what happens on a farm? What does a farmer do in his everyday routine? Well then meet Andrew Campbell a dairy farmer and Founder of Fresh Air Media from southwestern Ontario.


 Fresh Air Media is dedicated to educating and informing the agriculture and food sectors about upcoming communication and marketing tools, as well as new trends in technology.
Like many people Andrew made a new years resolution, his resolution is that he would post a pictures of his daily life on the farm every day on his twitter account using the hashtag #farm365 with the goal of helping consumers make the connection from farm to plate. To follow along you can follow Andrew on Twitter @FreshAirFarmer or the hashtag #farm365

 Like Andrew many farmers are using social media to educate the public on the daily happenings on the farm and to show the public where their food comes from.

The Peterson Family in front of their family farm!

Greg, Nathan, and Kendal Peterson better known as the Peterson Farm Bros. on YouTube are known for their agriculture-focused video parodies of popular hit songs. Other videos the brothers have made are informational videos, entertainment videos and their "Life of a Farmer" documentaries. the Life of a Farmer series is split in to 12 videos one for each month of the year, and is about what life on the farm is like. As well as their videos the brothers opened their farm last year on select Saturdays in the summer for a farm tour. For more info on tour dates for this year click here.

Although Andrew started the #farm365 hashtag many other farmers and agricultural advocates including myself have joined in, But since you can not own a hashtag it has allowed for animal rights activists to hijacked the #farm365 hashtag and use it to spreed their own message.

One thing I hear all the time from animal rights activists is that farmers abuse their animals. Yes there are some cases of animal abuse, but a lot of the time what looks like a farmer being mean is for the better of the animal. I know a lot of farmers that care a lot about there animals.

 One of my favorite blog posts on this subject is by dairycarrie in her post titled Sometimes we are mean to our cows Carrie talks about a down cow and what has to be done to get the cow up. http://dairycarrie.com/2013/12/09/cowabuse/


What do you think of the #farm365 hashtag?
Is using social media to open the barn door a good Idea?

 
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